Better than Just Friends
by WhiteRose123
Summary: After a failed kiss with Lucy at the behest of Asuka, Natsu begins to develop feelings for his friend that he never had before and starts to experience difficulties controlling himself around her. How will he cope when he realizes she has a date with a guy that isn't him? NaLu. Oneshot.


**Better than Just Friends**

Summary: After a failed kiss with Lucy at the behest of Asuka, Natsu begins to develop feelings for his friend that he never had before and begins having difficulties controlling himself around her. How will he cope when he realizes she has a date with a guy that isn't him? NaLu. Oneshot.

A/N: I just started watching Fairy Tail a few weeks ago, and admittedly I haven't finished what's out yet (what can I say, it's long), but that shouldn't affect this story at all. I became a huge NaLu fan and honestly the hope that they will get together eventually is what is keeping me interested in the show. Let me just say that Natsu is a tough character to write in a romantic light, as we haven't really seen how he would act in those situations before. Especially since this is a oneshot, which doesn't leave much time for character development. So, this is just my interpretation of how he would act, hopefully it's believable.

Warnings: There will be some swearing and light sexual content, but I don't think it's graphic enough to deserve an M rating.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or the cover photo used for this story.

…..

Romance. Love. Sex.

Just a week ago these ideas may as well have been foreign to Natsu. Sure, he may have heard of the terms before and knew what they meant, but the idea of partaking in these activities simply didn't appeal to Natsu in the same way it did to other males in the guild. He was far more interested in fighting and improving his skills as a mage than wooing some girl.

This certainly didn't go unnoticed by the guild either. Natsu never partook in the various, insane quests of his male guild members to find ways oogle the female members in their underwear or swimsuits. He never expressed interest in females in the same way his male comrades did to the point where the sheer idea of him getting a girlfriend was laughable to them. The older men even liked to make fun of him for being a "virgin", and he was even once asked if he was gay.

That idea of course was ridiculous. Natsu liked women, but he simply never felt the same drive that most men do to pursue them and "get laid", or even develop something more. At least, not until now.

And it was all because of a certain blonde-haired celestial spirit mage.

Natsu stared rather intently at Lucy as she chatted casually with Mirajane and Cana at the bar, periodically nursing the straw of her drink. Right away he felt his mind wander, what else could she do with that mouth? Did she know that he could almost see her panties in that skirt?

He felt his face flush, swallowing the lump in his throat and shaking his head in attempt to rid his mind of these thoughts. The last thing he needed to do was think about these things in public, which usually led to other… issues. Let alone, he shouldn't even be thinking of his female friend in this way in the first place!

He continued to watch her as she laughed heartily at something Cana said, drooping over the table in her fits of laughter and giving the fire mage a full view of what was underneath her skirt. It was so hard not to think of her in that way, especially when she did stuff like that so leisurely…

Natsu felt his body stiffen as an all too familiar heat began to arise in his nether regions, his pants beginning to tighten. Shit. This is definitely not what he needed right now.

He slumped back into the wall and inched towards the nearest corner, sinking down onto the ground. He wanted so badly to be anywhere but here right now, but he couldn't very well walk out of the room in his current state, someone would notice. His only choice was to wait it out, and then leave as quickly as possible.

Natsu groaned, defensively curling his knees up into his chest and placing his forehead on top of him. Think unappealing thoughts… gross thoughts, like Gray naked… or Grandpas feet. Something, anything to take his mind off of what was right in front of him sitting at the bar. Igneel had told him that this was a normal part of being a man, but damn it sucked.

"Natsu, what are you doing?"

Natsu felt his blood freeze at the all too familiar female voice. Anyone but her, anyone but her.

He hesitantly looked up at his blonde friend from his crouched position in the corner, his expression strained. Of all the people that had to come try to talk to him now, it had to be her. "N-nothing Lucy!" He sputtered out frantically, waving his hands frantically in front of him as if trying to ward off some unknown evil. "Just feeling a bit sick is all! You should probably stay away so you don't catch anything!"

Lucy pouted, indignantly placing her hands on her hips. "Sheesh, and we aren't even riding anything right now. Here-" She offered her hand to him "I'll take you back to my place and make you some tea, that should help."

"A-ah no thanks Lucy! I'll be fine! But you should really stay away, it might be contagious!" Natsu spoke hastily, cheeks flushing to the same shade as his hair as he attempted to move as far away from her outstretched hand as the corner would allow.

Luckily his pants were pretty baggy, so _hopefully_ she wouldn't notice.

She sighed. "Really, you're so stubborn sometimes. I thought you _liked_ sleeping at my house anyways. C'mon-" she reached out wrapped her arm around his bicep, attempting to pull him up. "I'll help-"

"NO!" Natsu slapped her hand away, a horrified expression painting his face and hair becoming damp with sweat. "Really Lucy, I'm fine! I'm fine!" He frantically reassured her. "I-I need to go though, see you later!"

Natsu's fight or flight response kicked in as he shoved the blonde out of the way and bolted out of the room. He figured as long as he did it quickly, no one would notice… hopefully. "What the - Natsu! W-wait!" He heard her yell after him, but he ignored it.

Once he was outside and at a safe distance from his blonde haired friend, Natsu stopped and slumped against the nearest tree, breathing a sigh of relief as the heat in his nether regions began to decrease. Looks like its cold showers for him from now on…

Natsu didn't know what brought on this sudden attraction to who was undoubtedly his best friend in Fairy Tail. No less than a week ago, he had not seen her more than just that, a good friend. But then he lost a bet to that blasted girl Asuka and had to follow her orders for an entire day, one of which was to kiss Lucy.

Natsu didn't view it as a big deal at the time. 'It's not like it's the end of the world', that was what he had said then. What was the harm in kissing his friend in a platonic way? After all, he had already slept in the same bed as her multiple times, and even seen her naked before - and nothing had changed between them. Why should it if they kissed just once? Plus, it was just to fulfill Asuka's order and Natsu was a man of his word.

Lucy however, apparently did not view it that way and blocked his advance with Happy. While Natsu certainly didn't want his first kiss to be with Happy, it wasn't that big of a deal at the time to not get to kiss Lucy. He didn't view her in a romantic or sexual way at that time, so he didn't necessarily have the desire to kiss her for his own purposes.

But, at the same time, it was after that that everything changed. Whenever he thought of his blonde friend after that day, his thoughts lingered back to that almost-kiss and what it would be like to actually kiss her. He began to notice just how attractive she was as a female with her large breasts, her slender yet curvy body, and that cute face. He began to wonder what it would be like to go beyond kissing and actually touch her. To be more than "just friends".

How had he never noticed that he had been in such attractive company all along?

Igneel had taught him a little about dealing with the opposite sex. He had said that it was normal for men to feel these urges, and that dragons felt these urges especially strongly when they find someone they like. However, despite never being mated himself, Igneel preached that it was important to not get intimate with someone unless you were certain you wanted to mate with them for life. According to him, dragons generally only feel for one other during their lifetime – the one meant to be their mate.

Did he feel this way about Lucy? Natsu knew that he desired her sexually, but what about as a lifelong mate? She was already his best friend and most trusted mission partner, so how could being in a romantic relationship with her be much different? It was something that he wanted to try.

However, he already knew that Lucy didn't feel the same way. And it just so happened that the same incident that made Natsu realize he felt romantically towards Lucy was the very same one that made him realize she didn't feel that way about him. If she liked him in that sense, she would have let him kiss her, plain and simple. But she didn't, and the very thought was like a dagger to the heart for Natsu.

Was he destined to a lifetime of unrequited desire? Now that he had these feelings, he couldn't imagine ever feeling for another female in the same way he does for Lucy. No one else sparks that same feeling of want in him the same way Lucy does.

At least Happy wasn't here jeer at him with that stupid catchphrase of his. 'You're in loooove."

Natsu rubbed the beads of sweat of of his forehead, pushing himself off of the tree and making his way back to his own house. He had been spending significantly much less time at Lucy's house since this revelation. Sleeping in her bed now held a _whole_ different meaning for him.

Finally reaching his house, he pushed open the door and promptly plopped down onto the nearest couch. Happy was off on a "date" with Charle right now, so he had the place to himself. Natsu sighed, lying down onto the couch. At least romance was working out for his small bodied friend.

He glanced over at the board that detailed all the missions he had gone on since he met Lucy. So many memories… his eyes trailed over the various souvenirs he had kept from those missions, eventually landing on the maid outfit Lucy had worn during their infiltration of Everlue mansion. The first mission they ever did together… and although Natsu didn't appreciate it at the time, Lucy looked damn good in that maid outfit. Maybe he could get her to wear it again sometime?

Natsu smacked his forehead. No, no! Don't think about those things right now!

Stupid hormones, stupid feelings. Life would be so much easier if he never began to feel this way.

Just as he was about to doze off on the couch, a harsh knock on the door jolted him awake. "Natsu! Open up! I know you're in there!" It was Lucy.

Of course it was. He did after all bolt out of the dining hall when she was trying to talk to him. Natsu wasn't certain if it was the best idea to see her right now, but it was probably best to apologize for shoving her earlier.

Again she knocked. "Natsu!"

"Coming!" He called out, making his way to the door and opening it up, coming face to face with the irritated face of his blonde best friend.

Lucy scowled at him as he hesitantly met her gaze. "Sheesh, what's with you lately? First you don't want to go on any missions all week and then you run away from me when I try to help you! Are you at least going to let me come in?"

"Ah-sure" The dragon slayer responded awkwardly, moving to the side and allowing his friend to enter, attempting to avoid staring at her blatantly visible cleavage as she walked past him. Damn, does she have to wear such revealing clothes all the time?

"I see it's just as much of a pigsty in here as ever," Lucy spoke indignantly, placing her hands firmly on her hips as she stopped in the middle of the room. "It's like cleaning is a foreign idea to you."

Natsu snorted, closing the door and moving to stand a few feet behind his friend. "Cleaning is boring, why would I waste time on that?"

"And why do you still have that thing?!" Lucy exclaimed, jabbing her hands towards her old maid outfit in the corner and Natsu flushed a shade darker than his hair.

"M-memories?" He squeaked out, far more high pitched than he had intended. "That was the first mission we went on together after all, I want to remember it!"

"I guess that makes sense. It's still weird though." Lucy admitted with a sigh after a short pause, although Natsu swore he saw a smile creep onto her face. She turned to face him, soft brown eyes locking with his onyx ones. "Are you feeling better now at least? You had me worried earlier."

"A-ah yeah, much better!" Natsu responded awkwardly, face heating up in embarrassment as he recalled the 'issues' he had earlier today. "Just needed some time alone is all."

"It's pretty mean to push a lady you know," Lucy huffed out. "Although I suppose it's better than you throwing up on me or something if you really were sick."

 _Something worse than that_ , Natsu thought to himself. He could only imagine the repercussions of Lucy, and probably soon after everyone in Fairy Tail, knowing that he got a hard on in the dining hall. He cringed inwardly at the thought. "Y-yeah sorry about that," he mumbled out before locking eyes with her and forcing a grin. "I'll make it up to you I promise. We can go on a mission and you can have all the reward money."

"Hmmm, I suppose that would be a good way to apologize. I really do need the money for rent this month, especially since you haven't wanted to go on any missions all week until now."

There was a reason for that, mainly because he had difficulty being around Lucy now without perverse thoughts wandering into and invading his mind. His earlier emergency in the dining hall wasn't necessarily an uncommon occurrence now… But at the same time, he couldn't exactly forfeit missions with Lucy entirely now. He and she were partners, and preventing her from acquiring money for rent was a bit contradictory to loving her. He truly did want to help and take care of her.

"It's settled then!" Natsu spoke excitedly, he did miss the thrill going on missions even if he was reluctant to do so recently. "I saw a mission for 70,000 jewel on the board that's supposed to occur tomorrow night. That's enough to cover your rent right?"

"Yeah, that's plenty!" Lucy exclaimed, eyes lighting up. "But... I don't think I can tomorrow night."

"Why?" The dragon slayer inquired. What could possibly be more important than rent money?

"W-well…" Lucy began rather meekly, her face flushing a light shade of pink as she avoided eye contact with him. "I kind've, sort've have a date tomorrow night."

At this, Natsu felt his heart sink.

A date… was it _that_ kind of date...? Lucy on a date with another guy… the very thought of it hurt, it hurt a lot - like someone had impaled him through the chest and left him to die. But at the same time, Natsu already knew his chances with Lucy were nonexistent – it would be normal for her to date other guys, and him, being a good friend, should be supportive of it. He swallowed all the things he wanted to say: to inquire about who she's actually going with, to try to convince her not to go on the date, to encourage her to go on a mission with him instead... but he ultimately chose not to comment on the matter.

"I-I see…" He forced out, his voice strained and cracking slightly. "Well, there will always be other missions. Maybe we can do one the next day."

"Mmm!" She nodded, lips curling into a beaming smile. "That sounds great! Thank you Natsu!" And with that, she boldly moved forward and wrapped her arms around him in a rather clumsy embrace.

Natsu stood there as still as a statue for a moment before bringing a single hand up to rest on the nape of her neck, awkwardly returning the embrace. "Yeah…"

She broke away from him, backing away and flashing him that cheerful grin of hers. That grin that always seemed to make his day brighter. "I'll see you later, Natsu!"

He returned a faint smile of his own. "Yeah…" he repeated dismally.

And with that, she left, shutting the door behind her in an ungraceful 'thud'.

Natsu sighed, moving back to the couch and clumsily plopping back down onto it. Lucy on a date. The thought of it made him feel sick to his stomach.

If he was lucky, it would end up like all of the other "dates" Lucy had been on. That's not to say that Lucy has been on many, as despite her occasionally promiscuous attitude, she didn't appear to be much more experienced than Natsu himself in the matters of sex and romance. However, Natsu, being her best friend, always got to hear about the few men she did meet up with.

Most of them ended poorly to say the least. And she would come home and complain about how awful men were, and that she would never find the right guy and whatnot. Oddly enough, Natsu was always at her house on those nights, so it was probably for the best that they didn't work out so she didn't try bringing any of them home with her. How awkward would it be to go home with a girl and find another guy in her bed? The thought of it made a small, satisfied smile creep onto Natsu's face.

However, there was also one occasion where one of these guys had the gall stalk and harass Lucy after she had rejected him. Natsu had taken the liberty of personally tracking that bastard down and scaring him enough to ensure he would _never_ come near her again. That's right, it was him that did that. Not Loke, not Gray, not one of Lucy's other male friends. Him.

But, nothing could be done to prevent Lucy from going on these dates. Natsu already accepted that his feelings for her weren't reciprocated, and he had to accept that there could be other men in her life. As painful as it was, and as much as he wanted Lucy to be "his", it was the way it was.

In a spontaneous fit of frustration, Natsu grabbed his pillow and threw it across the room, hitting the wall and knocking the fake Salamander signature off of the board.

Regardless of how accepting he was of the matter, tomorrow was going to suck.

…

"Yo Natsu, what's your deal? You've been moping all day."

Natsu groaned, reluctantly lifting his head up from its former placement on the bar table to look at a shirtless Gray. "Nothing I want to talk to you about, stripper," he grumbled out.

"He has giiiirl troubles," Happy cooed out through a mouth full of fish.

 _Dammit Happy_ , Natsu thought to himself. He knew that damn cat wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut. Why did he confide in him again?

"Really?!" Gray curiously leaned in closer before suddenly bursting into a fit of laughter, earning a scowl from the fire mage. "I can't believe it! You finally like a girl! So tell me, who is it huh?"

Natsu groaned again, his face flushing lightly in embarrassment as he planted his forehead back on the bar table. "As if I'm telling you."

Gray chuckled lightly. "It's Lucy, isn't it?" At this Natsu's face turned _at least_ two shades darker, confirming the ice mage's assumption and once again causing him to burst into a fit of laughter. "I knew it! I knew it would happen eventually! She is a cutie isn't she?"

"Yeah, well, nothing is gonna happen. So best to drop it."

"Ohh right, you said there were issues. What might those be?" Gray responded, prompting an annoyed grumble from Natsu. "Promise this is just between us guys, I won't tell anyone," he added on sincerely.

The dragon slayer let out a defeated sigh. "Fine," Natsu wasn't certain that talking about his girl troubles to his ice-adept, exhibitionist of a rival was a great idea, but at the same time, it might be good to talk to someone who knows more about relationships than Happy. "She's on a date with some other guy right now, that's what's going on," he answered without lifting his forehead from its placement on the bar.

"Man, you're acting all down and out because of that? That's nothing! You know Lucy's dates never work out," Gray said with mirth, patting the fire mage reassuringly on the back. "You're all good."

That, however, was not reassuring in the slightest to the dragon slayer. How can he be so certain about that? Sure, Lucy's luck with men is famously bad, but that doesn't mean she won't find one she hits off with eventually. Natsu simply groaned in response.

"Besides," Gray continued, smirking knowingly at his teammate. "Everyone already knows Lucy only has eyes for you."

What? Really? No way. Natsu lifted his head to stare incredulously at the ice mage. "I'll kick your ass if you're lying to me Gray."

Gray snorted. "No lie, everyone in the guild knows it. Except for you apparently."

"I for one think you and Lucy would make a great couple," the sweet voice of Mirajane spoke behind them.

"Mira!" Natsu exclaimed in shock, his face paling and Gray simply laughed.

The last thing Natsu wanted was everyone in the guild knowing about this. And if Mirajana knew, everyone would soon enough. But, if Gray was telling the truth, they all already did know…

But still, Lucy having feelings for him? No way. They must be misinterpreting it.

"She's always talking about you whenever she's here. Always going on and on about how awesome you are in fights, about how she knows she can always count on you," MIrajane continued fondly. "In fact, she made a comment just the other day about how weird you were acting lately. Seemed like it was really bothering her."

Natsu simply huffed in response, his expression sullen. Then why was she going on dates with other guys if she had these feelings for him like everyone is saying?! Natsu would be the first to admit that he isn't at all experienced with romantic matters, but he was pretty certain people _did not_ do that.

"Thanks for the encouragement, but I don't think so," Natsu finally responded after a long pause, moving to stand up. "See you guys later."

Gray and Mirajane watched at the dragon slayer sped out of the room, his hands tucked into his pants pockets. "Oh well," Gray shrugged indifferently, a small smile creeping onto his face. "He'll figure it out eventually."

"Hopefully," Mirajane responded cheerfully. "They look so cute together!"

"Hey! W-wait for me Natsu!" Happy piped up, dropping his fish bone as he realized he was being left behind.

"Hold up cat," Gray replied, snatching the Exceed's tail as he attempted to fly after Natsu. "Give him some time alone, you never know what might happen."

…

Dammit, this sucks Natsu thought to himself as he walked steadily through the quiet streets of Magnolia.

Life would have been so much easier if he never developed these urges, these damn feelings. He could have gone on continuing to support and have fun with his best friend, laughing at her failed attempts with men and getting into other crazy antics with her.

Natsu inhaled the cool, nighttime air. That smell, it was as if he could smell Lucy everywhere now. It was a sweet smell, like flowers and vanilla, but not overly potent either. Man, it was nice. It was especially strong right now too, was Lucy nearby he wondered?

Against his better instinct, he chose to follow the scent. _Don't do it_ , a voice had whispered in the back of his mind, _it's a bad idea_. But the scent was so overwhelming tonight. Not too long after tracking the trail, the echoing sound of Lucy's laugh merged with his eardrums. Although it didn't sound like her usual laugh that he had grown so fond of, but rather almost a bit forced?

Acting more cautious than what was typical of him, Natsu steadily moved towards the sound until a familiar blonde haired female came into his view. Quickly, he hid behind a nearby tree, carefully peering over the side of it in effort to eavesdrop on his friend. He wondered how mad she would be if she knew he was doing this, _and_ if it was really the best idea for his well-being to be seeing this. His more rational side told him to leave immediately, but his more impulsive, bold side told him to stay, and unfortunately for him, his impulsiveness often got the best of him

She was with her _date_ of course, Natsu could have predicted that. The pair was facing away from him, seated on blanket on top of the small hill and having what appeared to be some kind of picnic. The guy she was with was red-headed and wore glasses, he almost reminded Natsu of the former Fairy Tail member, now celestial spirit, Loke, but it wasn't him. Just a guy that looked like him.

It became quickly apparent that the guy wasn't nearly as suave as the lion celestial spirit either, as Lucy appeared entirely uninterested in whatever that guy was doing. Natsu couldn't hear them well, but even he, being as inexperienced with romantic matters as he was, could see just how clumsily this guy moved about and it made him angry.

He was speaking non-stop about something that was apparently incredibly interesting to him, but obviously quite the opposite to Lucy. She yawned, clearly bored, as the guy continued to run his mouth. Another one of her failed dates it seems. That should have been Natsu's cue to leave; this date wasn't going anywhere so he had nothing to worry about, but he couldn't. Regardless of how bad it appeared to be going, it still made seethe with jealousy to see Lucy with another guy. Natsu felt his body heat up, fire momentarily materializing around his fists as he watched the guy drape his arm over Lucy's shoulders, leaning in closer to her, a gesture that she flinched away from.

Lucy laughed awkwardly at something her date said, untangling herself from his arm and inching a small distance away from him. Apparently not taking the hint, the guy once again moved closer to her and Natsu decided he couldn't just stand there and watch this anymore. He either had to walk away or intervene, and the former just wasn't his style.

Moving out from his previous placement behind the tree, he began to quickly walk towards the two. "Hey! Lucy!" He called out, grinning sheepishly at his friend as she turned to look at him, surprised.

Her look of surprise quickly morphed into a kind, beaming smile that made Natsu's heart lurch. She looked briefly at her bewildered date before standing and rushing towards the now-surprised fire mage, wrapping her arms around him in an embrace. "Natsu! I haven't seen you all day!"

Natsu felt his breath hitch briefly in his throat. Lucy hugged him frequently, but somehow it felt far more intimate this time. He tried his very best to ignore the fact that her partially revealed breasts were squashed up against his bare chest, her arms wrapped up around inside his vest and resting on the skin of his back instead of outside like they normally were when they hugged. Was this some ploy of hers to escape her failure of a date?

Regardless of her intentions, he chose to play along. Natsu's eyes met the shocked ones of the other man's, smirking at him and boldly wrapping his arms around the blonde in front of him, pulling her into him tighter. Even if this was just Lucy using him, it was nice…

The man glared daggers at him, obviously upset at his interrupted date. "Lu, what are you doing?! Who is this?!"

Lucy broke away from the fire mage, who found himself immediately missing the warmth, and smiled coyly at her date. "This is my partner!" She spoke cheerily, affectionately patting Natsu's arm. "I forgot we were supposed to go on a mission tonight, so I should probably go with him!"

"But…" The man stared at them with a bewildered expression for a moment before he suddenly looked at Natsu with surprise as if he had a sudden epiphany. "W-wait, isn't that man the Salamander? _That's_ your partner?!" Natsu wasn't certain if he should be insulted or complimented at the way he said that. "Oh, screw this!" The man exclaimed, throwing his arms up in exasperation and beginning to walk away. "I'm not dealing with this shit. Sorry, I don't think this is going to work out, Lu," and with that, he was gone.

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief and Natsu grinned wildly with pride at his "accomplishment". She released her grasp on his arm and moved a comfortable distance from him, Natsu quickly finding himself missing the closeness. "Thank God!" Lucy exclaimed, briefly staring at the now empty location of the picnic before turning to face him. "Sorry about the lying, I just really needed to get away from him. Man, what a mistake _that_ was! I really should have gone on that mission today instead."

Natsu burst into laughter, briefly clasping his hand on her shoulder, the events today allowing him to regain some of his confidence around his attractive blonde friend. "Man, what an idiot!" He managed out in-between laughter, attempting to tease her like he normally did. "Your taste in men really is awful!"

Lucy blushed furiously at this. "It's-it's not like I intentionally choose men like that!" She exclaimed with frustration, frantically waving her hands around. "It's hard to find a good guy you know."

The comment stung just a bit, Natsu would have liked to have thought that she had a good guy standing right in front of her, but apparently not according to her. He knew Mirajane and Gray were lying when they said she had feelings for him. Nonetheless, he chose to brush off the remark. "Yeah, well, I'm sure you'll find someone eventually," he responded rather sullenly, his mood dipping once again. "C'mon, I'll walk you home. We have your rent mission to talk about after all!"

He began to walk towards the direction of Lucy's apartment with her keeping pace with him. "Oh yeah! You said there was something tomorrow?" She chimed in.

"Well, actually, I lied about that, there's not any tomorrow," Natsu replied, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "But I was looking at the mission board today, and I think there's one in a few days. It's an S-Class mission, but I bet we'd be allowed to do it if we ask Gray and Erza for help!" He continued enthusiastically, the idea of doing an S-class mission still got him all fired regardless of the situation.

"Really? How much jewel?" Lucy inquired excitedly.

"600,000!" Natsu responded with a grin.

"Really?!" Lucy exclaimed, both a look of incredulity and excitement plastered on her face.

"Yeah!" Natsu said excitedly, grinning at her. "Split between four people, that's 150,000 each! And you can still have mine and Happy's portion of course!"

"S-seriously?" Lucy responded with disbelief. "I mean, I know you said you would before, but are you sure that's okay? 150,000 is more than enough!"

"Mmhmm!" Natsu responded, a grin still plastered on his face. Oh how he loved making her happy. "Happy and I will be fine, you need it more than we do."

Lucy beamed at him, and he swore he saw hint of a blush forming on her cheeks. "Thanks, Natsu. I really appreciate it."

"Of course. You mean a lot to me." That last part just sort of slipped out, he was just blurting out what came to mind.

Of course, that was what he normally did around Lucy, and well, just about anyone prior to having these feelings. Natsu was never one for filters. But lately, he had had to watch what he said around her especially, that is, unless he wanted to make things _very_ awkward between them. Hopefully she wouldn't think anything of it and just see it as him being a good friend.

He eyed her carefully, watching her dip her head to stare at her feet and what was most definitely a blush form on her cheeks. Quickly, he looked away quickly before she noticed him staring. Awkward, so awkward. Why did he have to blurt that out?

They walked in silence the rest of the way before Lucy suddenly came to a halt. Natsu looked up and noticed that they were at her apartment.

"Well," Natsu began. "Here we are... See you later Lucy," he finished somewhat awkwardly before turning to walk away.

"Wait, Natsu!" He heard Lucy call out behind him after a small pause. She hesitated for a moment before speaking again, awkwardly shuffling her feet. "Do you… do you want to stay here tonight? It's so dark already outside." She added on quickly, and now it was Natsu's turn to blush. What was she implying? "You haven't broken into my house in a while now… its kind of weird not having you here to be honest." She finished quietly, a small blush forming on her cheeks, her brown eyes looking everywhere but at him in attempt to avoid eye contact.

"Ah-w-well I…" He stumbled, trying his very best to form words. What should he do? What should he do? He admitted that he wanted to, but it seemed so… inappropriate – not something he usually thought about when he came to staying a Lucy's place. "I… I really shouldn't. Happy is probably at home waiting for me and will wonder where I am."

An excuse, but not entirely an untrue one. He did leave after leave his feline friend behind at the bar after he had bolted out of there. Surely Happy is wondering where he ran off to.

She smiled at him, but he couldn't help but notice that she looked a bit disappointed. "I see, that's fine," she said, finally making eye contact with him. "I'll see you around then. Say 'hi' to Happy for me."

And with that, she turned on her heel and entered her apartment, shutting the door behind her. Natsu found himself staring at the door for a few moments before sighing and turning to walk towards his own house.

He really wanted to go inside, he really did. After all, the night was going in his favor and _just maybe_ he could have acted on his feelings. But he just… couldn't. He knew that wasn't Lucy's reasoning for inviting him inside, and he couldn't torture himself with that kind of rejection.

After all, it was both painful for his emotional and physical well-being to be intimately close to Lucy now and have it only be platonic in her mind. Not to mention, he couldn't always control his physical, male… parts when close to her, and how embarrassing would that be if she discovered that!

No, best just to stay away.

…

"Man, I'm so bored! I want to go on a missiooon!" Natsu pouted dramatically as he made his way down the streets of Magnolia, his blue feline friend close at his side.

"I thought you said didn't want to go on any missions just a few days ago because of Lucy," Happy spoke in a blatant, matter of fact tone, hovering eye level with the pink-haired mage.

Natsu groaned, cheeks flushing slightly at the bold mention of the blonde. "But that was a few days ago. Now I'm just bored. I want to fight someone!"

"I'm sure Lucy would 'fight' you if you asked," Happy cooed in a cheery yet taunting tone.

"What? But I don't want to fi-" Natsu stopped talking, halting in his tracks once he realized what he blue-furred friend had really meant, prompting him to flush at least a few shades darker and shoot a nasty glare at the flying cat who burst out laughing in response. "Can we please _not_ talk about Lucy like that in public?!" The fire mage groaned out.

It was just yesterday that Lucy had invited Natsu to stay the night at her place after he had rescued her from her failure of a date. He had so many thoughts running through his imagination about what could have happened had he stayed that it was difficult to keep his hormones in check. He even found himself severely regretting that he didn't go inside, even if it was for the best.

Damn, stupid hormones. Is this what his male guildmates always felt when they came up with their 'devious' plans to oogle women in their underwear? It made him cringe to think that he was becoming like that. At least his dragon upbringing made it so he only felt that way for one woman… but in some ways that made it worse.

"Anyways, didn't you say you had a mission planned for us later this week Natsu?" Happy asked.

"Oh yeah! That S-Class mission!" Natsu exclaimed, suddenly more cheerful at the mention of it. "I forgot we need to ask Erza if she'll come with us! We can't go if she doesn't. Gray too."

The fire mage turned around to walk back to Fairy Tail's dining hall, but was halted by his feline friend flying in front of him. "I'll go ask them!" Happy said cheerily. "You should go home and rest, you look a bit sick," the blue feline continued "Sick with looove maybe," he added on with a snicker.

But-" He began, but stopped himself when he pondered the situation. He had purposefully stayed away from the dining hall today knowing the Happy wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut. Hell, everyone probably already knew due to Mirajane, and he wasn't prepared to deal with that right now. "Fine," he resigned. "You go ask them, I'll be back at the house."

"Aye, sir!" Happy chimed before flying towards the dining hall, leaving the pinkette alone.

Natsu sighed, turning to make his way back towards his house. Sitting at home wasn't necessarily the best cure for boredom, but what else could he do today? Nonetheless, he chose to take the longer, more scenic route to make it more interesting. After some time, he finally reached his destination. He placed his hand on the doorknob, hesitating for a moment before twisting it and pushing it open.

He felt his jaw go slack when he came face to face with none other than his favorite blonde-haired mage, sitting leisurely on his couch as if waiting for him and wearing nothing but that maid outfit from the Everlue mission.

"Natsu!" She greeted him with a beaming smile, quickly standing up from her placement on the couch. "You're home!"

"L-L-Lucy..." Natsu choked out in disbelief, his voice slightly resembling Happy's in this instant. "W-what are you doing?"

He tried his best to avoid glancing down at her mostly exposed chest as she sauntered towards him. She did look damn good in that thing… he could already feel his nether regions begin to stir.

"What does it look like?" She said with a smile, edging closer to him, a seductive lilt to her voice. "I was waiting for you of course!"

She continued to inch towards him, prompting him to back away until his back was against the door. "B-but I-I don't understand…" He stuttered out, exasperated, his face so hot he was certain it was the color of Erza's hair in this instant.

The blonde hushed him, momentarily placing her finger up against the surprised fire mage's lips, her eyes lidded seductively, forming an expression that Natsu was all too familiar with. After all, she had done it with other men before for means of manipulation. Never towards him though. Was this even real? Was he dreaming? "Just let me try something," she said, a hint of nervousness evident in her voice.

Not that Natsu really noticed, considering he was a hundred times more nervous and occupied with… other things at the moment.

Hesitantly, she placed her hands inside of his vest on his abs and slowly traced them upwards along his chest as the fire mage watched her incredulously, his heart thudding so loudly in his chest that he was certain she could hear it. She stopped for a moment as her hands reached his shoulders, briefly fiddling with his scarf, before tracing one up along his neck and resting it on his cheek. After a brief pause, she rocked onto her toes and tugged him forward by his scarf, placing her lips on his in a chaste kiss.

The fire mage froze, dumfounded. There's no way this was happening. This can't be real, it must be a dream. Lucy doesn't like him like this. She doesn't. She wouldn't kiss him before after all.

Before he had a chance to react, it was over. She broke away from him, releasing her grip on his scarf, and backing a step away. She shyly glanced at him, a cute blush forming on her cheeks. "Well?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

A surge of hormones overriding his thoughts and actions, Natsu exhaled sharply before responding by gripping her arms and quickly switching places with her, pushing her up against the door - perhaps a bit more roughly than intended. Pausing just for a moment to inhale that wonderful scent of hers, he swooped down and locked lips with her once again, one hand tangling in her hair and the other moving to rest on her cheek.

Even if it is just a dream, who cares. He was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

Lucy hesitated for a moment before responding him, her hands once again ghosting along his chest and moving to grip his scarf, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. Natsu felt her swipe her tongue across his lower lip, asking for entrance which he readily allowed, quickly entwining his own tongue with her slightly more experienced one.

Natsu had no idea what he was doing. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing. After all, he was completely inexperienced on these matters. Right now, he was just going on pure instinct alone.

The fire mage felt a slight tug on his vest as the younger female attempted to remove it, causing him to break his hands away from her briefly to shrug it off. Small hands quickly moved to explore his bare chest, delicately tracing its contours. Her hands were so soft, it felt nice…

Taking her cue, Natsu hesitantly allowed one of his own hands to leave its placement on her cheek, following the curves of her body downward before stopping to rest on her hindquarters. Boldly, he slipped his hand underneath her maid skirt to rest on the skin beneath it, softly gripping the flesh. He heard her moan quietly in response – a nice sound. Perhaps that meant he wasn't doing too badly.

Lucy suddenly broke the kiss and moved one hand to fumble with his belt, the other remaining tangled in his hair. Missing the contact and wanting his mouth to be back on _something_ , Natsu dipped his head down and began licking and sucking at the skin of her neck, periodically nipping it with his teeth, which caused her to tighten her grip on his hair. He found himself quickly growing more excited when she emitted another small moan.

Keeping pace with the current trend of undressing, he moved his unoccupied hand to the strap of her outfit, pushing it off of her shoulder and exposing her right breast. Eagerly, he cupped the fleshy mound, running his thumb over her hardened nipple and earning a gasp from her.

After some time, she clumsily rid him of his belt, dropping the leather strap onto the ground and moving to hook her fingers on the band of his pants, where she hesitated. Natsu, feeling as though he was falling behind in undressing her, considering he was nearly naked and she still had all of her clothes on, quickly moved to push the other strap of the outfit off of her shoulder, fully exposing her chest.

However, it was then that he felt her begin to shake, her hands suddenly releasing the band of his pants, allowing it to snap back against his waist, and shying away. Although he really didn't want to, Natsu broke away from her, stepping backwards and staring curiously down at her. Did he do something wrong?

She shyly stared off to the side, cheeks flushed deeply and her arms crossed over her chest to cover her breasts. "S-sorry," she squeaked out. "I-I don't mean to be nervous, I-I've just... I've just never done this before," her brown eyes met his. "You don't have to stop."

Although he truly wanted nothing more than to continue, to be kissing her again, to completely undress her… to have sex with her... her feelings mattered more. And he was nervous too, he hadn't done anything like this before either. He smiled kindly at her, moving forward and pulling the straps of her outfit back onto her shoulders to cover her chest back up, awkwardly patting them after doing so as if to hold them in place. "It's okay… me either," he said, pausing for a moment. "We don't have to continue if you don't want to."

"Y-you're sure? I mean, Gray and Happy said-"

"What?!" He blurted out, interrupting her, his current state of arousal quickly diminishing at the mention of the two trollish males

"Y-yeah, I was at the dining hall today and Gray said that you had feelings for me and wanted to do this with me," She said, gesturing to her body. "The outfit was Happy's idea… he said you would really like it if I put this on and waited for you to come home."

"Seriously?!" Natsu groaned out, his face reddening with anger and embarrassment. Is this why Happy was so set on him going home alone? "Dammit! I'm gonna kick both of their asses for lying to me! Those assholes!" Seriously, they said they were going to keep his feelings a secret, no, they promised! "And here I thought you came here on your own accord…"

"Ah, well, it's not that I didn't…" Lucy responded rather shyly, awkwardly playing with a strand of her blonde hair.

"Huh?" Natsu calmed momentarily to stare at the female mage in slight bewilderment. "Really?"

"Well, yeah," she said in a matter of face tone, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I wouldn't do something like _this_ if they just asked me to," she once again gestured to her outfit, pausing for a moment and exhaling sharply. "I really like you Natsu, a lot. When Gray and Happy indicated that you might like me back, I just…"

"Seriously?!" Natsu once again said in disbelief, and his face slowly cracked into a wide grin. "Well, maybe I won't kick their asses _too_ badly…" He moved forward and pulled her into a gentle embrace, emitting a small laugh as he did so. "I like you too, if it's not already obvious," and at this, he felt Lucy smile into his chest. "I have to know though, cause' it's been bothering me for awhile…" Natsu said, breaking the embrace and stepping away from her. "Why wouldn't you kiss me before?"

"What, you mean when Asuka told us to?" She briefly stared at him like he was an idiot… which wasn't necessarily wrong. "I mean, it's not that I didn't want to!" She spoke in a flustered tone. "But I didn't want _that_ to be our first kiss – and I didn't think you were taking it seriously!"

 _That_ was true. Natsu didn't realize he felt this way about Lucy until after that almost-kiss. At the time, he did think of it as a joke. Who would've known that she didn't want to because she had feelings for him? Natsu sighed, it didn't make any sense to him. Women were so confusing.

"I see..." Natsu laughed lightly. "Well, is it better now?" He asked, moving to kiss her lightly on the forehead.

"Yeah…" She cooed out almost dreamily. "And just so we're clear! It's not like I never want to do… what we almost did today… with you, I just need some time first. I've never gone this far with a guy before," she continued in a flustered tone.

Natsu simply laughed, but he felt his face heat up again at the mention of what they almost did. "That's okay. I was going along with it cause' I thought you wanted to… I really didn't know what I was doing," he admitted. "I would really like to take you on one of those dates you like to go on though. Let me make up for interrupting your last one."

Lucy beamed at him. "That sounds great! But what about the mission coming up?"

"We'll do something afterwards!" He exclaimed. "Then you'll have all that money to pay for it!" He grinned coyly at her, attempting to regain the teasing relationship they had before now that things were clearer between them.

Lucy frowned at him. "I mean… it's not that I mind paying, but-"

Natsu interrupted her with a burst of laughter. "I'm joking! I'm joking! I'll pay of course, Igneel did teach me some things about dealing with women you know," he said teasingly. "Although…you may have to give me some of my share that I was going to give to you…" He added on as an afterthought, he _had_ forgotten how broke he really was.

Lucy simply laughed. "Of course, I never wanted you to give me that anyways. You can stay at my place anytime you like too," she said with a wink.

Natsu chuckled and pulled her into a hug, enjoying a real, true embrace with his best friend-turned-girlfriend. They simply stood there, quietly intertwined for a moment before the fire mage broke the silence. "Hey Lucy…" He said, tone more serious than before. "I want you to know that I'm not at all experienced when it comes romantic stuff… you're the first girl I've ever had feelings like this for," he admitted. "But I hope you'll let me try."

He felt her smile reassuringly into his chest. "Don't worry, I'm not really either," she confessed, although Natsu was certain she was at least a little more experienced than him. "We can learn together."

At this, Natsu clutched her tighter, grinning wildly into her hair. This was real, this was really happening. It was no dream... Perhaps their guildmates weren't so wrong about them after all.

Igneel did tell him that if he was patient enough, he would one day find his mate. Natsu hoped that the dragon would be proud to know that he finally found her.

END

….

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this! I do appreciate hearing your thoughts, so please review!


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